This invention relates to protective body gear. In particular this invention relates to articulated body gear for protecting joints against injury from sharp objects.
Many types of activities require the use of protective covering to guard a user""s body against the impact of potentially damaging objects. Generally speaking, the covering material for the protective gear should be hard or resilient to withstand impact and sharp objects, the gear should be shaped to correspond to the shape of the body parts to be protected, and the gear should be articulated for unrestricted movement of the limbs.
Sports-oriented protective body guards are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,261 to Hefling discloses protective gear for contact sports, which comprises a plurality of interlocking segments. Each segment comprises an upper part and a lower part. Adjacent segments are made to overlap such that the upper part of one segment overlays the lower part of the adjacent segment. Adjacent segments are interconnected by means of holes in their lateral posterior portions. The holes are aligned when the adjacent segments are overlapped and a pivot pin extends through the holes on both overlapping segments. This allows adjacent segments to pivot in relation to one another and to allow the upper part of one segment to slide over the lower part of the adjacent segment. Hefling also discusses the provision of elongated slots in the lateral posterior portion of the segments and stop pins extending through the slots and into holes in the adjacent segment.
The Hefling design enables flexing and extension of the joint. However, most joints have a more complex mode of articulation than simply flexing and extension. For example, many members may also rotate about their joint, which the Hefling design does not accommodate despite Hefling""s stated object of achieving a full range of motion. In some cases, a full range of unrestricted joint motion over its several types of movement is extremely important. This is the case for example for tree fellers who need unrestricted joint movement while climbing and felling trees using heavy chain saws, for various sports, and for other activities.
There is therefore still a need for a protective body guard which provides a full range of motion that tracks more closely the bio-mechanical movement of a joint, while still ensuring continual coverage of the body parts and protection against such sharp objects as the blades of chain saws and other power tools, and protection against falls onto sharp objects and abrasive surfaces.
The present invention consists of protective gear for a leg or an elbow that closely emulates the various movements of the joint. This ensures that the user is able to move the limbs in a relatively unrestricted manner, while still being protected from blows.
According to the invention, successive segments are arranged in overlapping fashion and are interconnected by means of a single pivot element in an arcuate slot at each side of the segments. The slot is angled in relation to the longitudinal axis of the extended limb. This allows the successive segments to not only flex and extend, but also to rotate along with the limb and joint the gear protects. The protective gear according to the invention also accommodates sliding, for example when the femur sliding forward and backward on the tibia.
In one of its aspects, the invention comprises protective gear for a jointed limb comprising a plurality of partially overlapping, substantially rigid, segments. Each segment is adapted to articulate in relation to the next adjacent segment to selectively flex and extend substantially along a longitudinal axis and to undergo limited rotation about the longitudinal axis in relation to the other segments. Articulation between adjacent segments is accomplished by way of a single pivot element on opposite sides of each segment, which extends through an arcuate slot located in the adjacent segment.
In another aspect of the invention, the tangent to the center point of the arcuate slot defines an angle of between 10 and 65 degrees, and preferably between 40 and 50 degrees, in relation to the longitudinal axis of the extended gear.
In other aspects of the invention, the arc length of the slot is between 15 mm and 25 mm and the slot has a radius of curvature of between 20 and 55 mm.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the arcuate slot is located in the superior posterior portion of the segment and the pivot element is located in apertures in the inferior posterior portions of the segments.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the arcuate slot is spaced between one half inch and one and a half inches from the lateral edge of the segment.
Other aspects of the invention will be appreciated by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and to the claims that follow.